My life

I was born Oct. 29 1944. So that means i went through the 40's,50's,60's,70's,80's,90's,and all the way to the present. I was 6 years old when the 40's ended, but i still sorta remember what it was like living in San Jose at that time. Dad had a good job and we had a nice house and the neighborhood wasn't that bad. Don't know why we moved and i don't remember my first time coming to Colusa. It seems like all of a sudden we were just there. At the begining of the 50's we were working out in the fields, I must have been 6 at the time. That's just the way it was for a lot of families back then. You made the most from what was available. We were living at the Colonia in Colusa at the time.

I wouldn't change my childhood for anything, because we experienced so much more than most and i believe having been brought up with such great parents and brothers and sisters made my life so much more enjoyable, of course it wasn't always all fun and games because there were times when we did struggle and sometimes it was very hard to live the way we did, but we always found a way to get by and that had a lot to do with Mom and Pop. The other thing that had a significant impact on my life was my Tio's and Tia's and of course my cousins. We spent a lot of time together. We were more like one big happy family. You throw in all my parents friends and their kids and you can get an idea of what i'm talking about. There was always a bunch of kids running around our neighborhood. Did we fight with eachother? yes we did, but it was never a big deal. For the most part we got along just fine.

I remember when Rock and Roll first came around with Lil Richard, Fats Domino, The Clovers, The Platters, Johnny and Joe to name a few and how the older folks reacted to how Elvis "the pelvis" Presley danced, they were mortified, but the young folks couldn't get enough of them and this changed the way people started dancing to their music, it was a cool time and place to be. The music, cars, clothes, it was all cool.

There was a lot of prejudice in them days, and sometimes you had to go and fight with someone because of it, because if you didn't you would be in for a long bumpy ride and especially at school. Some of the most racist people were the ones that should have known better, because they were in a position to change things,but most of them were satisfied with the way things were. Although there was a lot of prejudice during these years you had to learn how to get by. I've always had this way of getting along with people so I've always had friends of all colors. If you were half way cool, you and i could be friends. I remember hanging out with kids who's families were very rich and other kids who's families were very poor, it didn't matter to me cause we always had fun hanging out. You just have to learn how to adjust to different situations. It was kinda funny how i could be friends with a kid, but i couldn't talk to his folks. When it was time for the folks to come home I had to leave. The kids accepted me, but the folks wouldn't ( their loss) and these were supposedly educated people. One was a doctor for Christs sake. I could go on and on about this, but it was all about ignorance and it's still alive and well today. Although it has gotten better i see/hear it all the time and i'm talking about in all races. This is the year 2012, were supposed to be smarter then this.

I was reading an article in the paper the other day that said the auto industry is having a hard time connecting to the young folks. Apparently the young people are not as interested in buying a new car as they were back in the day, so they're trying new selling strategies. Back in the day we lived for our cars. Your car was your status symbol. We looked forward to the new cars coming out like we look forward to the Super Bowl. There was just nothing like seeing that new G.M.C., Ford or Chrysler products and there were also the Studebakers and Ramblers although they were not as popular, we still looked forward to seeing them. We never heard of Toyota or Nissans. I remember the first time i seen a 57 Chevy. This kids Dad owned the Pontiac garage and he bought his son a brand new 57 Chevy Bel Air two door hardtop. It was lowered and had Supremes and was painted olive green. That car was the talk of the town. I also remember when the Mustangs first came out, A friends Dad bought him a 1964 Mustang with a 289 motor. It was fast but he got blown away by a friend of mine with a Chevy with an Olds motor in it. Man was he pissed. Then the Olds 442 came around and it just blew everyone off the road. That was one bad ass ride and fast too. We had a quarter mile drag strip marked off out in the country and we would go and race each other. It was cool when some new guy came around with a nice ride, cause he would always be challenged and a whole bunch of us would head out to the strip to see who had the baddest ride. The people i hung out with had rides that weren't built for speed, they were built for cruising and they were low,lower,lowest to the ground. We used to cut or take some body parts off so they would go even lower. After work on a Saturday you could find us working on our rides. washing,waxing and getting it ready to cruise. We took a lot of pride in our rides, the clothes we wore, and the music we listened to. It was all part of a style we were all proud to be a part of.

I remember when the first Impala came out. It was 1958 and it was a beauty. What was really cool was that it came out with a 348 motor and it was hot,hot,hot. in them days you could buy one brand new for under $3,000.00. The following year they came out with the 59 with the cat eye taillights, then the 60 Impala and so forth.

I remember the day President Kennedy was assassinated and i remember it clearly. I was working at the Chevy garage learning body and fender work. as soon as my boss heard what they shot him with, he said he'd never survive. I remember walking down the street after work and people were pretty upset. That was a pretty sad day and a scary one because of all the stories that were going around. I was told that we were going to get bombed. It was 1963 and i was 18 years old.

When i came to Woodland, my life changed. I was 19 years old and married with twin daughters and all i did was work at my job and work on my car. I had a 1958 Impala at the time. I worked at the Rambler garage till i turned 21 and for some reason after that i felt i was missing something in my life and that led to my ex and i going our separate ways. The people here in Woodland were a little different then i was used to. Don't know why but they were. It took me awhile to make friends. I was living at my Moms house, but during the summer months i just lived in my car, cause i didn't want to bother my folks. At that time i had a 1957 Chevy Bel Air. I traded up to that car from a 1954 Chevy that i bought from a good friend of the family, i traded the 54 Chevy for a 57 Merc. and traded the Merc. for a 58 Impala, ran the Impala into the ground and traded it for a 55 ford truck, rebuilt the motor on the truck and traded the truck for a 58 Chevy Bel Air. turned around and traded the Bel Air for a 57 Chevy, sold the 57 for $250.00 and bought me a real cool little 53 Chevy. I was right back where i started, except this car had nice wheels and it was dropped and had twice pipes and a record player in it and a cool maroon paint job. I was styling.